CATHEDRAL Music Staff
Erich S. BALLING
Canon Musician
Erich was appointed Organist and Choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral in August 2005 and Canon Musician in October 2006. He follows a long line of distinguished choirmasters at Christ Church beginning with Robert Quade, FRSCM, who founded the Men and Boys choir fifty years ago.
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Under his leadership the Boys choir and Cathedral Girls Choir has grown exponentially through an active and innovative recruiting program. Since 2007, the choirs have toured internationally to England and Scotland four times and have sung in New York, Washington and Boston. Of the choir, Choir and Organ magazine said “....the choir inspired faultless singing and immaculate choral discipline. They demonstrated a paradigm to which we all aspire”. Of a recent Messiah performance the Lexington Herald Leader noted”...the purity of the voices in the treble part and soft sonority of the male altos created exquisitely tuned chords of radiant beauty”.
Prior to this appointment he was for 10 years Director of Music at Saint Luke’s Parish (Episcopal) in Darien, Connecticut, one of the largest Episcopal churches in the Northeast. While at Saint Luke’s he developed a large RSCM choir program for boys, girls and teens numbering over 70 voices; recorded two compact discs of sacred choral and instrumental music and led the choirs on two choral residencies at Canterbury and Saint Albans Cathedral as well as Royal Holloway University, UK. While in Connecticut he served as an adjunct faculty instructor at Fairfield University where he taught music history, theory and composition. Over his career, Erich served on the Board of four American Guild of Organists chapters (twice as Dean) and has been an advocate for the ongoing work of organ preservation and restoration.
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As an organ recitalist, he has performed in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. He holds degrees in organ, conducting and music history from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Robert Glasgow and Huw Lewis and Westminster Choir College where he was a scholarship student of William Hays and Allen Crowell.
Contact Canon Erich Balling at eballing@ccclex.org
Kathleen BALLING
Music Assistant
Kathleen holds a music degree from Westminster Choir College in Music Education, with a concentration in Voice and Choral Conducting and has done graduate study at The Hartt School of Music in Vocal Pedagogy. She completed her Masters of Arts in Education at Georgetown College in 2013. She has taught music in the public schools for the last thirty-four years at the elementary and secondary levels, both instrumental and choral music. In addition to her work at the Cathedral, she is currently the vocal/ general music teacher at Tates Creek High School and maintains a private piano/voice studio. Cathedral Imps and Cathedral Womens Choir are under her direction.
Contact Kathleen Balling at kballing@ccclex.org
Lisa HALL
Assistant Organist
Lisa has served Christ Church Cathedral as Assistant Cathedral Organist since February 2012. In 2013, Lisa recorded an album, Sing We Merrily, with the Cathedral Choir. During the Visiting Conductor Series at the Cathedral, Lisa has worked with American conductors, Richard Webster, Robert Ludwig, Robert Quade, and Walden Moore, as well as British conductors, Aric Prentice, Malcolm Archer and Sarah Baldock. She has had the privilege of being the organist for choral residencies in England at Gloucester Cathedral, York Minster Cathedral, St. George’s Chapel Windsor, Bristol Cathedral, and Exeter Cathedral. Lisa has also performed an organ concert in Rome, Italy at St. Paul’s Within the Walls. She has served on Lexington’s American Guild of Organists’ Executive Committee, and she enjoys singing in choirs and teaching piano and organ. Lisa holds a Master of Music in organ performance from the University of Kentucky and a Bachelor of Arts in organ and church music from Asbury University.